my cold, cold vacation: part 1

It's now been exactly one week since I returned to France from Amsterdam by way of London by way of Brighton. It was a long, full and sometimes crazy trip where each destination seemed to be in the middle of an exceptional cold snap. I ended up wearing most of the clothes I packed all at the same time in layers: several tights followed by pants, sweater over dress over sweater, two scarves at once (the french do that all the time anyways). Nonetheless I had a truly excellent time. Highlights include drinking lots of delicious tea (and eating delicious cakes) with my good friend and gracious host Marketa in colourful, wacky Brighton; Being with in spitting distance of Sir Ian McKellan (!!!) at Waiting for Godot in London's West End; Taking an overnight ferry to Amsterdam (where I had a private room with a private shower: untold luxury)...

One un-amazing thing that happened was that while I remembered my camera's battery charger, I forgot that European sockets do not accept North American plugs and my adapter was left safely back in Arras. As a result I have only photos from England for the moment with Amsterdam photos to be developed from a disposable camera in the week ahead. Kind of exciting. I admit I'd forgotten the feeling of suspense you get when you "develop" photos from "film."

On the digital side of things, I'm still sifting through mountains and mountains of pictures, so for now here's a photographic description of Brighton, with photos of London to come later this weekend...

Miss Marketa


Brighton Beach


Brighton Pier


The other Brighton Pier


Brighton snow flurries :)


Super cool tea room/antiques shop (hence the amazing and over the top furniture)


Best meringue of my life (including french ones - don't tell the French i said that!)



Taking photos of people I don't know without their knowledge is probably wrong on many levels, but these women were too amazing...


Looking like a gorgeous seaside town in the sun... (it was -5)


The Lanes: fun funky shopping


Scenic stop on the drive to Seven Sisters.





At Seven Sisters - so beautiful, so cold...


Brighton was fun, young and colourful. I would have loved more pictures, but my hands kept freezing! Thanks again to Marketa for putting me up and for being my tour guide :)

sand in my socks

From weekend trip to Berck and Touquet. If you've ever wondered what the North coast of France is like, it's a little like the Pacific North West (of North America). But no mountains and more... French.



What I've always imagined architecture in Havana to be like: 1950s tropical, yet communist...

reverse chronological order

Congratulations, we made it! As you are probably aware, yesterday (January 18) was Blue Monday - designated the most depressing day of the year by British psychologist Cliff Arnall. This article from the Globe and Mail (which I used with a class currently doing a unit on health and exercise) suggests watching your go-to kitten video on youtube as a means of kicking the blues.

Along those lines, I opted to immerse myself in photos from my family's Christmas vacation in Nice and Paris. Imagining myself back in Nice certainly cheered me up, as did being able to cross "post photos from Christmas" off my to-do list thus killing two bluebirds with one stone.

So here we go back in time to the end of December 2009. Be prepared to be hit with a whack of vacation photos. We start in Nice...





So many gulls at the fish market...




Nice: city of yachts




Fishin'




Sunset streaming through a flag by the harbour


The happy fam




Onto Vence - a medieval town in the mountains inland from Nice. Today it is inhabited largely by a community of painters. Most artist's studios percapita in France or something like that. Also contains a chapel designed ground up by Matisse.








Paris! View from the top of Sacre Coeur at the top of Montmartre.


Strange geometry. Montmartre architecture.


This made me happy. These signs are ubiquitous in Paris and Montmartre especially so I'm glad someone decided to make something of it.


Crooked house on Montmartre.


Famous windmills of Montmartre


Palais de Justice


Brothers... excellent subjects for requisite silly photos


I love this photo. I was standing directly in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and turned around to take a picture of the crowd behind me. Not only is this an insane mass of people, but I love the way they blend into the painting behind.


Thats all for now. Remember to keep giggling during these last dreary winter months. If that doesn't work - you could always try light therapy?